The Reut Institute in Tel Aviv is seeking participants for a planned event intended to develop technological tools that can be used to combat the delegitimization of Israel around the world. Photo: The Reut Institute.

JNS.org – The Tel-Aviv-based Reut Institute, a not-for-profit leadership and strategy group committed to developing a strategy on fighting the global delegitimization of Israel movement, plans to hold an Israel Legitimacy Hackathon in January 2015 with the purpose of significantly improving the toolbox available to various pro-Israel groups working to enhance Israel’s legitimacy around the world. The group is seeking to harness Israeli and Jewish talent to participate in the hackaton and help develop technological tools that could be used for this purpose.

“Israel faces a systemic, systematic, and increasingly effective assault on its political and economic model. In the past few years, Israel has been subjected to increasingly harsh criticism around the world that in many places has stretched beyond legitimate discourse regarding Israeli policy to a fundamental challenge to the country’s right to exist,” the Reut institute said in an announcement of the planned event provided to JNS.org.

“A relatively small, but tightly networked and highly committed, collection of individuals and organizations drive the delegitimization campaign…Thus far, their efforts have made inroads in eroding Israel’s international image, and have in some instances exacted a tangible strategic price, both on Israel and on Jewish communities around the world…Importantly, Israel’s delegitimizers leverage the Palestinian condition to advance their cause, yet they do not seek its resolution or accept ideas such as ‘co-existence’ or ‘peace’ that embody an acceptance of Israel’s existence,” said Reut.

During the planned three-day event to be held in Israel, Reut said it will work to “identify real needs of people who are fighting for Israel’s legitimacy ‘in the trenches,’ and create inter-disciplinary teams of activists, thinkers, and technology experts  that will work together to address challenges articulated by leaders on the front lines of facing the delegitimization campaign. This process… will bring together the teams in order to create and present working prototypes of their ideas. The aim is for the best prototypes to be funded and scaled for widespread use among Jewish and pro-Israel communities.”

The Reut Institute is calling on all interested individuals to apply to participate in the hackaton here.